BEHIND THE SCENES

chapter 63: out of the ordinary

<OST: Winter Flower - Younha ft. RM>

"Oppa!" Chungha appeared by Hoseok's table at lunch hour, still trying her luck to get back into his good books for days. "Lunch?"

Hoseok didn't even look up. "Busy."

"Huh? Oh-" The smile disappeared from Chungha's face and a small pout took its place. "Need me to get anything for you-"

"No."

"Oh, really?" Chungha pursed her lips, scanning the half-empty office. "But are you sure you won't he hungry later? You've been working extra hard these days on the construction worker case-"

Hoseok finally looked up at Chungha, staring at her blankly. "I won't."

"Hm?" Chungha raised her eyebrows in surprise. "Ah... okay then, well-"

"Sunbae-nim!" Jisoo appeared by Hoseok's side at that very moment, placing a document on Hoseok's table. "Could you please help me read through this? These are the questions I drafted for our interview with Park Jungseok-ssi's family later on."

Chungha pretended to pack up her table to linger around, trying to listen in on what Jisoo and Hoseok were saying. For the past two years that she had worked here, these two had never really worked together before. This was the first time that they were working together to cover a case, and Chungha couldn't help but notice that the pair was getting along unexpectedly well. Chungha narrowed her eyes, eyeing Hoseok suspiciously as he scanned through the document Jisoo had handed him.

"It's good," Hoseok said with a small smile as he finally looked up and returned Jisoo the document. "Good job, Jisoo-ssi."

Chungha seethed with anger. He was smiling? Smiling at Jisoo when he looked like the whole world owed him a living just two minutes ago when she was speaking to him? That double-faced guy-

"Thank you, sunbae-nim." Jisoo smiled as she picked up the document once more. "What time are we leaving later?"

"Um..." Hoseok glanced at the clock on his table. "Now is 12.05pm, so maybe... 12.45pm? I made an appointment with them at about 1pm but we don't wanna be late."

"Right, sure!" Jisoo nodded. "Oh! By the way, I'm going to grab a quick lunch right now. Would you like anything?"

"Mm..." Hoseok thought for a while. "Perhaps, could you get me a sandwich and iced Americano please? I'll eat it on the way to the interview later."

Chungha's jaw dropped. Just minutes ago, he-

Jisoo smiled and nodded. "Sure. See you later at 1pm, sunbae-nim."

Hoseok smiled and waved. "Later."

Chungha clenched his fists tightly by her sides as she furrowed her eyebrows at Hoseok. "Jung Hoseok, you-"

Hoseok looked up. "What?"

Chungha didn't know what to say. To call out how double-standard he was, or to ask him why he was upset with her, or even if he was upset with her over Namjoon, what gave him the right to treat her so different? Was having dinner with her boss such a horrible thing? She accepted it out of politeness after all, even if Namjoon had feelings for her, just a small quick meal wouldn't change anything, would it? She ate lunch with the other male colleagues every other day as well... and it's not like she belonged to Hoseok or anything?